Meet Nala Toussaint
Brooklyn born with an Afro-Caribbean background, Nala Toussaint works to advance the social and economic well-being of African Descendants, with an urgent focus on queer, same-gender loving people, transgender, and non-binary people, and ultimately the entire community. She has done extensive work as an outreach liaison, conducting safe sex intervention activities for youths & young adults, and coordinating educational and job development services at renowned LGBT public service organizations.
Nala Toussaint currently is the TGNB Health Advocacy Coordinator at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. She engages and mobilizes transgender and gender non-binary (TGNB) patients and their a allies - as well as external community members - to advocate for policies that will expand access to gender-affirming health care and services while addressing racial inequities.
In 2015, she served as the Co-Chair for the Young Women Advisory Council under the administration of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito & New York City Council. Nala has lead and brought many differently-identified young girls to the table to contribute to the launch of #SheWillBe campaign. As a result of her passion and leadership, she continued her work as the co-program coordinator at Girls for Gender Equity until Aug 2018, where she co-facilitated groups that created spaces for young cisgender and transgender girls, and gender non-conforming individuals between the ages 13-24 to be uplifted through kinship while learning about government policy, media, and philanthropy.
In addition, she is the founder of Reuniting of African Descendants (R.O.A.D). R.O.A.D is a grassroots initiative invested in shaping the equitable, personal and collective development, and achievement of African descendants. Each year, R.O.A.D seeks to mobilize at least 10 individuals to work collaboratively to transform queer and trans communities in Africa through cultural exchange. R.O.A.D approaches this cultural exchange and community building work by cultivating a cross-continental and inter-generational travel experience that focuses on healing, apothecary teaching, and entrepreneurship opportunities.